The Welcome Home Garden Club

Twilight, Texas #4

by Lori Wilde

The fourth book in New York Times bestselling author Lori Wilde’s Twilight, Texas series, The Welcome Home Garden Club is a wonderfully poignant contemporary romance novel that captures the everyday magic of small-town life and love. Fans of Sherryl Woods, Susan Wiggs, Susan Mallery, and Debbie Macomber will treasure this love story about a Green Beret hero who returns to his home town with one goal in to win back the heart of the girl he left behind.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Military Fiction, Audiobook, Chick Lit

404 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 29, 2011

About the author

Lori Wilde can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to write. She even went to nursing school so she could have a schedule flexible enough to allow her to write on the side. She nursed for 20 years, working in a variety of settings from the newborn nursery to the recovery room, to dialysis. But she never lost her desire to write.

She sold her first book in 1994 to Silhouette Romance but later discovered she had a flair for comedy and branched out to Harlequin Duets and now, to Blaze.

Lori is an adventuresome soul who loves to travel. She’s taken flying lessons, completed two marathons, rode in a hot-air balloon, performed with a professional jazz band, traveled Europe as a teenager, hiked volcanoes in Hawaii, trod on glaciers in Alaska, shot white-water rapids, water-skied, snow-skied, raced all-terrain vehicles, bodysurfed in the Gulf of Mexico, and photographed grizzly bears in Yellowstone.

She lives in her native Texas, with her own real-life hero, Bill.

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The hero Gideon is a solider who spent the last 8 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is having problems with adapting to the normal life he desperately wants to live. He comes back home to Twilight for his father's funeral and is hit with two surprises. His father, the man who refused to admit that Gideon is his son, left him his ranch and 11 million dollars. And his high school sweetheart Caitlyn, has some news for him as well, he is a father to her 7 year old son Danny. What a welcome home, right?

Caitlyn, spent the last 8 years thinking that Gideon is dead, the blame for that lies squarely on her father's shoulders. She has made a life for herself in Twilight. She married the local florist, and was happy until her husband died. Now she has troubles, her husband left her debts, she is estranged from her father, and lets not forget she has to raise her son alone. Of course, with Gideon around, some stuff did get better, but on the other hand, the he only complicated things further.

The subplot with the attempts to scare & hurt Caitlyn & Gideon didn't work for me.

I like the way that they try to take their relationship slow.

It was a good book, but everything about it was just too something, to be really interesting. I can't say what precisely was wrong, but I had hard time finishing it. The best part of the book was definitely Gideon. :-)

Rating:

3 stars

[Lynn Spencer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, toxic masculinity ahoy! Also, really bad mental illness rep here.

The author tells what could have been a complex and touching second-chance-at-love story and every time the plot twists take us to difficult, dark places, she flinches and takes an easy way out of situations that don't (and probably shouldn't) have easy answers. The result is a book that tries really hard to be a sweet, small town romance but that left me feeling kind of icky afterward.

Caitlyn Marsh and Gideon Garza were high school sweethearts. Caitlyn's powerful judge father disapproved, and for...reasons...Gideon ends up being pressured to leave town and join the army. Caitlyn believes he is dead and she basically runs away from home to marry a much older man. Now, Caitlyn is the recently widowed mother of an elementary schooler and Gideon has come back to Twilight, Texas.

By all accounts, Caitlyn's late husband was actually a nice guy who treated her well and whose only major sin was being boring and perhaps not the brightest. When Gideon comes roaring up on a motorcycle, Caitlyn is in shock as she honestly believed him dead. Instead, he's back in Texas and it looks like he is about to inherit from the father who always disavowed him.

Caitlyn and Gideon finding their way back to one another could have been satisfying. Could have been. However, instead we get:

- frayed family relationships being healed with not nearly enough real work

- someone with PTSD (and accompanying violent outbursts) being healed through hanging out with the guys at the VFW and the love of a good woman

- so much babying of the heroine; seriously, someone else always knows best

- kidnapping, vandalism, and an act of sabotage that left someone seriously injured all being written off as "well, he has bipolar so we'll just let it all go"

- Hard to do without spoilers but some of what goes on with the hero and Caitlyn's son is...um...not a healthy way to handle things

[Lover of Romance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caitlyn Marsh, fell in love with Gideon Garza, but her father drove him out of town and she believed him to be dead all these years, and she has had to raise their son all on her own, still aching for Gideon and the love that they shared. But then he appears in Twilight and like a ghost she has no idea how to handle that he has been ALIVE. Gideon was born a 'bastard' and his father and brothers never have accepted him. He was driven out of his hometown, and joined the military, but lost something precious when a bomb exploded. When he learns that his father has died, he is summoned to Twilight, and Gideon knows this is the one way to get closure from his past so that he can move on with his future. But there is one person he doesn't know he can ever get closure with and that is Caitlyn. When he learns that he has a son, and a chance to be with Caitylyn he is determined as ever to win her forever...no matter what it takes.

Oh my what a lovely romance this turned out to be. I know that I keep saying this every time I read Wilde's stories, but can I just say she has to be one of my top top TOP favorite contemporary romance authors to read from, she knows how to write the best ones, and The Welcome Home Garden Club is definitely at the top of my list. I can't believe how much I loved this one. Quite frankly I love reunion romances, especially when you have the added bonus of a child. Lori Wilde has such a beautiful way of creating truly magical stories that wraps its way around your heart and holds on forever. A beyond memorable story.

It begins with Caitlyn in Twilight, where she and other members of the "Garden Club" decide to put a carousel--the carousel that has been in her family for generations, and create a garden circling around it with a "Welcome Home" theme, so they can win a contest. Tensions are still pretty high between Caitylyn and her father, and her father, well he basically has done some awful things, but we see his side of things and how much he regrets the past and all he wants is reconciliations with his daughter, a daughter that wants nothing to do with him. I fully understood why, and I don't blame her for her harsh feelings toward her father, because of him she has had to raise her son on her own. Then the least expected happens, the man she loved more than life and thought dead has arrived back in town, and wants her back in his life. Gideon has been serving in the military, believing he would never see Caitlyn again even though he still loves her. You see even though the last thing he wants is to stay in Twilight, learning about a son he never knew about changes everything. Gideon and Caityln have some powerful sparks and they start to reconnect.

It is definitely a emotional driven story and it had me in its tender hooks from the first few chapters. You can't help but be captivated by the set up of the story, and add the authors storytelling ability...good luck putting this one down, you won't regret it. What sexy fun this one was. The heat in it is pretty light, but I was in the mood for that, and I loved the focus on the building of the relationship and it had such a charming tone to it that you are captivated. Fun, Sweet and packed with everything you need for a solid romance!! UTTERLY CHARMING!

[Aly · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Then he stripped off his helmet, pulled away the goggles, and Caitlyn stared straight into the eyes of a dead man."

Gideon Garza didn't die in Iraq (like Caitlyn Marsh's father left her to believe), but he lost a hand and came back with nightmares and a hard time trying to adjust to civilian life again. The heroine's patriarch is not the only asshole in the story. But he was the judge who left Gideon two options to pay for a misdemeanor : jail or the military, and the one to lie to his daughter. Caitlyn didn't have the chance to tell Gideon she was pregnant before he went away. She met a man she married, who accepted her baby as his own, but she lost him to cancer a few years later.
Called for his enstranged father's funeral, Gideon come back in town. Caitlyn is just as surprised to see him alive as he is to discover he have a son. There's no way he's leaving again now. And since he's there, he'll be able to help Caitlyn and the townfolks for the memorial garden they're building for servicemen and servicewomen. At the middle of the story there's also a carousel with bittersweet memories for the heroine.

While I know almost nothing about the author's life, I guess from her books that she have people in her life who are or was in the military, because she give them a voice and she doesn't shy away from talking about war's physical and psychological effects. Caitlyn had a natural empathy and she knew right away that she needed to show Gideon that she understand his emotional wounds.

[Natalija · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was definitely a page-turner. I really like the hero & the heroine & I rooted for them.
Although it takes place in Twilight (Texas), it has no Texas feeling to it. It could easily take place in another state. So if you aren't into cowboys, don't worry. There are no cowboys in this book.
My main complaint is that there were too many characters. I wasn't able to remember all Caitlyn's garden club members' names & I didn't care what kind of tea they preferred. However, I haven't read the first 3 books in this series, so I hadn't time to get to know them better.

This was my first Lori Wilde's book & I definitely want to read more of her books!

[Amanda Uhl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read!

If you enjoy second-chance romances, then you will enjoy this book. The author is a strong writer who really brings the characters and story to life.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love stories about military/former military characters and this was just as good as I had expected. Gideon and Caitlyn had been high school sweethearts. She was the daughter of the local judge and he was the bad boy from the wrong side of town, but that didn't matter to them. When Gideon ends up in trouble with the law, he's given the choice of jail or the military. He left town, not knowing that Caitlyn was pregnant, and her father arranged things so that Caitlyn was told that Gideon was killed in action. She married another man who gave her and her son a place until he died. Now she's raising her son alone and trying to get her life back together.

I really liked Gideon. He had had a rough start in life. His father never acknowledged his existence, so he and his mother had been very poor as he was growing up. He didn't find out his father's identity until his mother died, and his confrontation with dad didn't go well. The only thing that had made his life bearable was his relationship with Caitlyn. That ended when he was forced into the military. He tried writing to her, but the letters came back marked refused. Feeling hurt and betrayed, he tried to forget her and concentrated on his career. After losing part of his arm in the war, he started working as security and a translator, until called back home by the death of his father. During his first encounter with Caitlyn he discovers that she thought he was dead and they'd been kept apart by her father. He also finds out that he is the father of her son. He goes from planning to leave town as soon as possible, to deciding to stay to be close to Caitlyn and Danny. Gideon has a lot of things working against his desire to get closer to Caitlyn and Danny. He feels that his disability makes it impossible for anyone to really care for him. He also feels that the things he had to do during the war have created a darkness in him that makes him unworthy of Caitlyn's love. I liked the way that he planned to stay and try to be a father to Danny. He also realized that his feelings for Caitlyn had never gone away and were only getting stronger. His issues had made him withdraw into himself, but being around Caitlyn was bringing him back to life, but he still worried about his past causing her harm. One of the things I liked best about him was that he was finally able to accept the help that was offered by other veterans. It was so hard for him to do, but he did it because of his love for Caitlyn and Danny.

Caitlyn had also been through a lot. Her father's overprotectiveness and then his fury at her pregnancy had driven a wedge between them. After finding out that Gideon was dead, she accepted the proposal of a man who promised he would care for her and treat her baby like his own. They had a satisfactory life together until he died. At that point she had to develop a lot more independence. She is shocked by Gideon's return and doesn't know how to tell him about his son. She also realizes that the old feelings are still there, but she is wary about following through on them. She can see that he is very different from the boy she used to know and doesn't want to risk her heart or her son's happiness. I loved seeing her get to know the new Gideon. She was able to break through some of his walls and show him that she accepted him just the way he was. It was still a hard road to overcome her own fears and then to help Gideon face his.

I really liked the attention paid to Gideon and his issues. He wasn't portrayed as a victim, but simply as a man trying to reacquaint himself with normal life. We get a good look at what has changed him from the boy Caitlyn used to know into the man he is today. I liked seeing the support he got from the other people in town. I also liked the way that fellow veterans let him know they were available to help but didn't try to force themselves on him.

I really enjoyed the gardening aspect of the story. The meanings of the flowers at the beginning of each chapter, and the way they related to the chapter itself was beautiful. The victory garden contest was great. I loved their idea of what they wanted and the reasoning behind their choice. The twist at the end was fantastic.

[Romancing the Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewer: Valerie

Caitlyn Marsh stopped believing in happily-ever-after when high-school sweetheart, Gideon Garza, left for Iraq. Now she raises her small son while her matchmaking gardening club members drive her crazy. Then Caitlyn's world turns upside-down when Gideon swaggers back to Twilight.

Gideon had left town in the middle of night with threats ringing in his ears. A lot of things have changed since then. This bad boy-turned-Green Beret bears scars from the war, the timid girl he loved is an independent mother, and the father who refused to recognize his son in life has, in death, left him a vast cattle ranch.

He still aches for Caitlyn, and now there's a dark-haired boy who looks exactly like Gideon did at that age. Could the child be his? And can this war-weary soldier overcome the scars of the past to claim the family he so richly deserves?

Review: I am a huge fan of books with series based on small towns. Right now, there are quite a few different series to choose from, including this one, the Twilight, Texas series. For me, the pull of these types of books is that not only do I get to read a story and learn to love the characters in that book but I also get small glimpses into their lives after their story is told by reading the rest of the books in the series. Book four was a heartrending story and yes, I cried at times. It had all the elements that make a story so complete and I read this one late into the night until the very last page. While you might think the storyline is predictable and guy ends up with girl, it’s much, much more than that. This guy is DEAD to the girl. This guy has been on three tours, not one, not two, but three tours of duty and is scarred. In fact, Ms. Wilde dedicated this book to our servicemen and women. The girl is recently widowed, estranged from her father and raising a young son, alone. Yes, it’s a story full of baggage and relationships and forgiveness.

In the center of it all is a beautiful victory garden that Caitlyn is dedicating to her dead first love and all the servicemen and women from their town. By designing the garden, she feels some healing and it also helps her support her young son. Her garden club reaches out into the community and she has support. The only catch is that the garden club wants the garden designed around her father’s old carousel, her inheritance. Asking him for it requires that she speak to her father. Remember it’s a small town and everyone knows everything – including the fact that her son is not for her dead husband. On the day a prominent citizen is being buried, her son’s grandfather, she hears the roar of a motorcycle and sees a rider. When he removes his helmet, she faints.

How these two once-in-love as teenagers reconnect and try to figure out all the changes in each other and their world was a joy to read. When Gideon cried and had nightmares, I was there. When Caitlyn cried and hugged her son, I was there. When her young son questions why he doesn’t look like his dead dad, I was there. When the townspeople were taking bets on who will end up with who, I was laughing. While you don’t have to read the other books in this series to read this one, you will want to. The characters come alive from the very first page and don’t let go until the end. I can’t wait for the next book in this series!

[Amy Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in love with this author and her novels! I always love the people of Twilight, Texas that she introduces me to with each new installment of the series. Not only does she bring new romance with each book, but she also does my favorite thing and bring back characters from the previous books! I love when an author reminds the reader of previous books in the series by integrating them into the current read.


With this book, we meet Caitlyn Marsh who owns the florist shop in town. After having a whirlwind romance as a teenager with Gideon Garza, she discovers that she is pregnant and hires a detective to locate him after he enlists in the army after a run in with the law. The detective informs her that he died in service and she finds herself devastated. What she doesn't know is that someone paid off the detective back then and made him lie about Gideon being dead. Caitlyn moves on with her life and marries the local florist in town. Her son is given a name, but everyone in town knows the truth of who the father really is.


Gideon was the result of an affair between one of the richest men in town and the hired help. His true father refuses to acknowledge him when Gideon confronts him with the paternity issue and it angers him to the point that he burns the rich mans barn to the ground. Caitlyn's father, who happens to be the judge in town, offers him the ultimatum of jail time or army time. While Gideon chooses the army, he never expected to lose not only the love of his life, but also his hand in a bombing.


When Gideon's father passes away, he is shocked to learn that he has just inherited the ranch and the bulk of his monetary estate. Add to this the anger from two half brothers still coping with the death of their father, and you can guarantee there is going to be some turmoil and revenge. Now Gideon must return to Twilight and figure out if he wants to accept the money and ranch, or stay away from the love of his life for good. Upon returning to Twilight, Gideon finds out he is a Father and is shocked at the lengths that people took to keep Caitlyn out of his life. When they both discover the truth though, their romance blossoms again and second chances are given.


While I enjoyed this story, it is not one of my favorites of the series. I enjoyed the writing and the characters discovery of second chances, but I wish the author would have give us a chapter or two of the couple as a teenagers first before starting the current time frame. I think if I would have read how the interacted as teens, I would have enjoyed their story more and could have understood how much they each suffered over the years.


Other than that one point above, the book was a great new addition to the series. I still wish I could find myself in the fictional town of Twilight, Texas and enjoy each character on a daily basis. A sweet romance to satisfy that sweet tooth when we want a true romance book to read.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the fourth book in the Twilight, Texas series and the first I have read. I found so much to like about this story. Caitlyn (the daughter of the town judge) and Gideon (the illegitimate son of the town’s wealthiest man) are very believable, as is their history and their parent’s conspiracy to keep them apart by giving Gideon a choice of jail or the military. Eight years later, Gideon comes home when his father dies. He lost his arm in the service of his country and has had a lot of adjustments to make. Now he learns that his father has finally, through his death, acknowledged Gideon as his son. He also finds his feelings for Caitlyn have not changed, nor hers for him. There’s also a little boy – could it be his? Woven into this love story is a town’s desire to honor the men and women of the military coming home. How better than with a garden that will provide a place where they can rest and find peace? But even this does not turn out as expected. I live in Texas and it added a little something extra to be able to visualize the places mentioned. I found myself engrossed in the story and read it in one sitting. I loved how the story developed; I’ll be reading the first three books in this series and keeping an eye out for Ms. Wilde’s next book. The Welcome Home Garden Club is a feel-good love story and a very satisfying read!

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The heroine is a fairly recent widow with a little boy, but she's still haunted by the memory of her first love, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who went off to war and was killed in Afghanistan. Except--when she's at the funeral of the Big Man in town--turns out he's not dead after all.

The hero is the bastard son of the Big Man who was a bastard in every sense of the word except literal. The heroine's dad is the local judge, and she hasn't spoken to him in years--not since he broke up her romance with the hero and sent him off to the army. Doesn't look like things are going to improve, either, since it looks like Dad's the one who made sure she was told the hero died. But now he's home again, and they both want to see if they can find the magic again. And since this is a series about first loves, you can expect they do.

(Okay, TEENSY niggle, that actually just made me laugh--because the heroine is a florist, Wilde uses "the language of flowers" in the book for subtext--except she has the hero bring a florist bouquet of daylilies to the heroine. Daylilies are NEVER used as cut flowers, because even in the garden, the flowers Only Last One Day. It's why they're called DAYlilies.)

[Missy Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kind of struggled with what to give this book as far as stars are concerned. The writing is good, no complaints on grammar, structure, etc. Unfortunately I had a few problems with the story from Chapter one. This was my first Lori Wilde book. I'm certain if I had started at the beginning of the series I wouldn't have felt overwhelmed by the amount of characters she tried to introduce right off the bat. I had to reread the prologue twice but it didn't help. I felt like she "info dumped" the whole town on me in the first few pages. I didn't like it.
The love story is good. The hero is awesome. The heroine is...meh. I didn't like the skips and jumps in the action where I wasn't even sure if they were sitting,standing, walking, etc. Again, I found myself backtracking to see if I missed anything.
There was the beginning of a love triangle that never formed. There was the promise of two bad guys that fizzled out to be dealt with an a very anticlimactic way with ridiculous antics that just didn't mesh with the characters well enough for me.
Overall, this isn't a book I'd read a second time and I wasn't drawn in enough to look for the rest of the series. However, I'm glad I read it at least once.

[Cindy Flory · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many books by Lori Wilde, so when I saw she had added another book to this story, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I have to say...that I was not disappointed. I loved it so much, that I hated to see it end. That to me is a sign of a great writer. You'll find it very hard to put this book down, believe me, I was up until 4 am reading this one. Poor Caitlyn finding herself all alone pregnant at 17, after the boy she's always loved, up and leaves town without any notice, leaving her to deal with a rich, and overbearing father to contend with. And when they don't see eye to eye, she finds herself all alone to raise their child in the best way that she can. The town people surround her with love and acceptance, and she does what it takes to protect her child.....

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first time reading anything by this author. I thought this book was good though I guess I would have liked to see more of the details in the story with regards to the forgiveness of certain characters and more background to each of the characters themselves. Take for instance Gideon. We know he was in Afghanistan and he lost his hand there but we didn't really know that he had a head injury the first time. We didn't even know that there was a first time until later in the story.

I will definitely read more from this author. In fact the blurb at the end of this book about the next book she has coming out sounds really fun! Then again, I have a thing for cowboys so it could be that too!

[Edith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had everything a romance novel requires -- a lover returning from the dead, a spurned lover (although the spurner wasn't aware of that), a controlling father, several members of the Goodnight family (from the famed Goodnight Trail), the joining of an unwed mother to a good man who was later killed by a lightning strike, not to mention a prize for the best garden in Texas. Did I mention that the unwed mother's husband owned a florist shop?

Author Wilde does a masterful job of filling out the characters in her book. I almost felt as if I knew them. If you want a good read and like romance novels, this book is for you.

[Lisa Filipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gideon was a very real character, one that we can relate to. He was a troubled youth who was sent away to the military and became a man with a dark side of life that only the few and proud know about. Left to think he was dead was Caitlyn. Who was lied to about what happened to Gideon and raised a son with a stand in husband. It was a toching story about healing, trusting and learning to love again.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I'm guessing on the rating somewhat because I discovered I forgot to record my having read this book. But I know I wanted to read the next book and I have enjoyed the previous books in the series.

[Dixie-Lee Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twilight, Texas Novel ... definitely a must read. Had a hard time putting this book down.
I felt like I was living amongst the folks in their small town Texas ... Twilight.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book!! I love when a story pulls me in and keeps me turning the pages. It held my interest all the way to the end. What a wonderful ending it was!

[Nate Brightman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Welcome Home Garden Club is the 4th book in the Twilight Texaas series by Lori Wilde. I’m going to say it’s just okay. I liked the hero Gideon Garza and the heroine Caitlyn Marsh. I liked the ladies of the Garden Club which includes Flynn, Emma and Sarah from the first 3 books. Flynn is now going to college to earn her teaching degree, Emma and Sam are happily married and raising Charlie who is Caitlyn’s son Danny’s best friend. Sarah is happily planning her marriage to Travis. Patsy is now a widow and free to reconnect with her first love Hondo and apparently Raylene and Earl are still separated.
The book in a nutshell. Gideon who is the illegitimate son of the town’s richest citizen and comes from the wrong side of the tracks is in love with Caitlyn, the great, great, great granddaughter on her mother’s side of the town’s founders Jon and Rebekka Grant. Her father is the town’s judge. At 17 Caitlyn gets pregnant and Gideon’s father conspires with Caitlyn’s father to force Gideon into the Army, not knowing Caitlyn is pregnant. Because Caitlyn refuses to go to a home for unwed mothers and put her baby up for adoption her father disowns her and her son. He also sends Gideon’s letters to Caitlyn back unopened making him think Caitlyn no longer cares about him and has the private investigator Caitlyn hires to find Gideon forge documents telling her he died in action. Caitlyn agrees to marry Kevin a kind florist whom she has no romantic feelings for and he not so much for her but he’s a good guy who wants to protect her and take care of her son. Talk about a soap opera. Nine years later where the book begins Caitlyn is now a recent widow and single mom, Kevin having been struck by lightening six months prior. She’s struggling to run the florist shop and keep herself economically afloat. Gideon who had lost his dominant left hand in a bomb explosion and has been living in Iraq and Afghanistan for these past 8 years working as a private security contractor, has returned to Twilight to watch the man who refused to admit paternity buried. When Caitlyn sees the man she’d always loved and the father of her child she faints. Oh and Gideon's father leaves the bulk of his estate to Gideon making his two step-brothers very angry with him. From this point on we have your typical modern romance and there's a lot to the story to like. But so much of this story made no sense to me that I couldn’t give it more than 3 stars.
***Spoiler Alert****
The big hurdle in this story is will Gideon be able to overcome his PTSD, forgive himself for what he's done in service to his country, the horrors he's seen and adjust to life back in the States after spending the past eight years living in a war zone. And can Caitlyn accept him with all of the baggage he’s come home with? There’s never any real question right from the start whether they still love each other. It's all about they're different people now so can they make it work? So I have to ask myself, “what if they had been not just in love but married when Gideon left for the Middle East and like thousands of others he returned from combat with issues? Would there have been any question whether Caitlyn would have stood by Gideon while he worked through his issues and readjusted to life with her and their son?” Also Hondo the town’s sheriff and a former Viet Nam vet and P.O.W. becomes Gideon’s sponsor in guiding him through the process of adjusting to life in Twilight. Hondo keeps telling Gideon to take his time with Caitlyn, woo her and win her trust back. Which would have made sense early on but not after Caitlyn and Gideon had already shared their deepest darkest secrets and spent a weekend together burning up the sheets it just didn't to me. I don’t know anything at all about recovering from PTSD but it seems to me if Caitlyn wanted Gideon to continue to live with her and Danny whle he worked through his issues (which she did) why was it important for his recovery and their relationship for them to stop having sex until he’d overcome his night terrors? I was also a little shocked at how quickly Caitlyn accepted her father’s apology even when he hadn’t exactly apologized. Why after she pulled him out of church to tell him off did she say she had to confront him about what he'd done later in the book? And while it made sense and was very magnanimous on Gideon’s part, I thought his generous gesture towards his two undeserving step-brothers just happened too quickly. They deserved to do a bit of groveling and apologizing first. And just maybe since Caitlyn was really more the injured party than Gideon over their actions he should have consulted her first? Bottom line here is if you've been reading the series and are already invested in it like I was, this was worth the time to read. But if you're reading it as a standalone you can find better stories by the same author.

[Brent Soderstrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 4th book of the Twilight, Texas series and surprisingly it is the best so far. Yes, there is the 1-2 chapters of softcore porn, as there is in all of the other books of the series, but the story was more compelling than the others have been.

In this book, Gideon Garza comes back to Twilight, Texas after serving his country in Iraq. He doesn't come back because he missed Twilight. He comes back because the man who his mother claimed was his father is about to die. He is finally wanting to acknowledge Gideon as his son after years of vehemently denying it. Goodnight has two sons that everyone knows of already and his estate is worth millions.

Waiting in Twilight is Caitlyn Marsh and her son Danny. Caitlyn's husband Kevin Marsh has recently died of cancer. Caitlyn and Gideon were quite the item before Gideon was arrested for arson. The Judge, who is Caitlyn's father and who hates Gideon, gives Gideon a choice: prison or the armed services. Gideon chooses the armed services.

The angle of the story I enjoyed most was Gideon having lost a limb, his left arm, in Iraq. You get a glimpse of what an amputee feels when meeting others and dating. I lost my right leg, above the knee, in a car accident years ago. I could identify with many of the issues Gideon faced in the book.
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[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book 3.5 stars as it was not really exciting or different like her other books have been. Gideon Garza showed up at his father’s funeral even though his father had never acknowledged Gideon as his son. There he saw his high school girlfriend Caitlyn Marsh who had sent back his letters he wrote unopened and refused but apparently she was shocked to see him because she fainted when she saw him. As the story unravels, she was told he had died in the war by a P.I. she had hired to find him. When he was forced to leave for the Army, she did not have a chance to tell him that he was going to be a father. These two had a lot of healing to do, both between them and her and her father who had not spoken to Caitlyn since his grandson had been born. Interesting book.

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a library sale purchase. I was looking for a pg-13 romance. If you don't mind detailed sexual exploits of 17 year old girls then you should be okay with this book. The author started out revealing that both the main characters were in love with the other and nobody else was in the way so the story lacked any suspense. The issue of PTSD was well covered though and it gave the book some merit.
Not a terrible book. If you want to read about other people having sex then you will like this story.

[Stephanie Pieck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another romance novel, this time taking place in Twilight, Texas. Once again, small-town girl and ex-soldier try to defy their mutual attraction and years of life's hard knocks.
Each chapter begins with the traditional meaning of various flowers since the female protagonist is a florist. This is a nice touch. Unfortunately, there were too many misused words ("altercation" to mean changes or "alteration") and clunky phrases to make reading a smooth ride. But if you're a sucker for small-town romances with quirky characters and happily-ever-after designs, try it. You might like it.

[Elizabeth Meadows · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story line of this installment was enjoyable. Thankfully there were only two sex scenes which were near the end. Unfortunately the language and terminology that the author tends to use makes the scenes sound trashy (in my opinion). I prefer romances with no sex at all, but if it's going to be there, I would prefer it to be on the romantic and sweet side of things.
What drew me to these books were the beautiful covers and I keep reading them hoping that the stories will outweigh the parts that I don't care for.

[Judith Doyel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Great Holiday Read

Looking for a fast, fun summer holiday read? Jump right into this Twilight, Texas saga. It has all your favorite Twilight characters and places along with all the the Twilight traditions and fun, but add in a little gardening, a little sibling rivalry, a little bipolar insanity, a back from the dead vet and a victory garden and an eight year old boy and you have a captivating story.

[Brie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally posted at Romance Around the Corner

Lori Wilde’s Twilight Texas Series is wonderful. She has created a beautiful town full of quirky characters and compelling stories. I discovered her books a couple of years ago after the release of The Sweethearts' Knitting Club, and since then I’ve been anxiously expecting the next release.

The Welcome Home Garden Club is about Gideon and Caitlyn. They used to be high school sweethearts and they loved each other madly. They also had a lot of obstacles in their way to happiness. He was the natural son of the wealthiest man in town, a guy from the wrong side of the tracks, son of a Mexican woman who loved him, but was a bit of a loose woman. Caitlyn was the overprotected daughter of the town’s judge who loved his daughter but was very controlling, needless to say that he categorically disapproved of Gideon. After a series of unfortunate developments Gideon ends up between a rock and a hard place, Caitlyn’s father offers him a choice, he can either go to prison or join the army, Gideon of course chooses the army.

Immediately after Gideon leaves, Caitlyn finds out she is pregnant. She desperately tries to find him but when the private investigator she hires comes back with the bad news that Gideon has been killed in action she is devastated. Fast forward eight years later, Gideon’s father has just died, and who happens to show up in the middle of his funeral? You guessed it, Gideon himself. Needless to say Caitlyn is shocked.


I liked the book but I didn’t love it. The premise was and old one and the execution was good in some parts, but lacking in others. Obviously there was some foul play involved in Caitlyn finding out that Gideon was dead, and there was some foul play involved in Gideon not coming back to Twilight, and is obvious that Caitlyn’s father was behind it. This is an old plot devise and even though Lori does it well there were some things that bothered me. I couldn’t understand why Gideon did not try harder to get in touch with Caitlyn. One day he receives all the letters he had sent her unopened and that’s why he thinks she doesn’t love him? I don’t get it, if he knows the kind of father she has why isn’t he suspicious? He is very much in love with her and he claims to know her better than anyone, but he believes her capable of something this awful? I understand that Gideon was going through a lot, that he was very young, but I think romance novels today are way past this type of absurd misunderstanding, and since Caitlyn proved to be a very sweet and caring person, how could he not see that something wasn’t right?

I found both Gideon and Caitlyn very likeable. Gideon specially was very complex. He was wounded in Afghanistan and lost a hand and he is deeply traumatized by the things he saw and did during the war. I loved how Lori gives us a hero who is an alpha male, a strong warrior (he was a green beret) but who is also emotionally affected by war. I think this was a more realistic portrayal of a military hero because even though he was a highly trained operative, he wasn’t beyond being affected by the things he saw and did, he wasn’t a super hero and he wasn’t invincible.

Caitlyn was a nice girl. She was a hardworking woman who did her best to be a good mom, she loves flowers and she is sweet and charming. I found her a little bit too good actually, and I think that she was a bit weak. I think that once she lost Gideon she stopped living and I understand that she was heartbroken and desperate, but she was so young, there was no reason for her not to be able to move on.

Caitlyn’s reaction to Gideon was a bit more realistic. She realizes that she never stopped loving him but is weary of picking up where they left because she now has a son to think about and Gideon is obviously not the same guy she used to know. Gideon is also weary because he feels dirty and undeserving. He thinks that once she finds out about all the things he went through she will shun him. He is also suffering from PTSD and that makes him dangerous to Caitlyn and their son.

I believe that what bothered me the most was that they were just too accepting. Caitlyn and Gideon weren’t really mad at her father, Gideon was also too accepting of the fact that he had a son, Caitlyn was accepting of Gideon’s traumas and welcomed him with open arms even when by doing so she was endangering her son’s well-being. Even the son, Danny, was too accepting of his new father.

Overall the book was enjoyable, had an interesting story and was engaging (I particularly loved how every chapter started with the traditional meaning of a flower). It could have been much better though, it had all the ingredients to make a wonderful and touching story. If you can see past those things, and if you like second chance at love stories or secret baby stories with a twist, then you might want to read this one. If you are not familiar with Lori don’t start with this book, go and read the series in order, and then pick this one.

I recommend Lori Wilde’s books because she is very talented, but this one won’t be on my keeper list.

Don't forget to visit my blog http://romance-around-the-corner.blogspot.com/

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

I, unknowingly, started reading this series in the middle and was very caught up with the cookie chronicles before finding the series list. As I've been reading the series now from the beginning I have really enjoyed each book. But this story is the one that touched me most deep!y. Thank you, Lori, for this book!

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great storyline

There was a little bad language and quite a bit sex but, overall, I enjoyed the story. Caitlyn and Gideon fell in love as young teenagers but were torn apart by circumstances beyond their control. Heartache, romance, a bit of drama and a second chance to find true love.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book has charming gardening and restoration of a antique carousel descriptions, complete with flower messages, and a sweet storyline, it is written with too many cliches about too much explicit sex. Too bad, especially since if those scenarios had been suggested rather than spelled out, it would have been an excellent book.